NBA Rebukes Tim Hardaway for Anti-Gay Rant (cancels all assignments for All Star Game)

Miami Herald ^ | Posted on Thu, Feb. 15 2007 | Barry Jackson

[meg88]

The NBA today removed Tim Hardaway from its All-Star weekend activities, a day after he said, ''I hate gay people'' in a radio interview with a Miami Herald sports columnist.

''It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours,'' NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement issued by the league.

Hardaway issued an apology several hours after making the comments on The Dan LeBatard Show on 790 The Ticket. ''Yes, I regret it,'' he told WSVN-Channel 7. ``I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that.''

Members of gay organizations reacted swiftly to Hardaway's comments.

''Obviously, I'm disappointed in Tim Hardaway being that Tim Hardaway was one of my favorite basketball players,'' said Donnell Morris, managing director of Black Gay Pride of South Florida. ``It creates a hostile environment for any player contemplating coming out of the closet.''

He added: ``For Tim to be a person from Miami where there has always been a diverse community, he should have been more sensitive to his environment. . . . I've always looked up to Tim as a leader. For him to take a stance that way really hurts me.''

Steve Adkins, president of the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said Hardaway's apology makes no difference. 'It is a very simple process to say `no' or 'I'd rather not comment' than to go on the record and make malicious and bigoted statements,'' Adkins said.

``. . . Let's just say I'm very disappointed that if someone in this day and age has these kinds of feelings, they're not intelligent enough to keep them to themselves. Beyond that, there is no place in our society for that kind of hatred and bigotry. End of story.''

[texas_mrs]

He has every right to an opinion at variance with what the NBA marketing team would like.

I agree.

[Marysecretary]

Yeah, wouldn't that go unnoticed? I hate homosexuality but not homosexuals themselves. These days you can't even say that.

[VRWCmember]

Since you both made comments along the same lines, I thought I would reply to both at one time:

To pick on this guy denies him free speech.

How many brilliant proposals put forth by the enlightened class start out this way and work their way into Federal, State or Local law? We all understand what the amendments say, just concerned about the slippery slope we are all on.

The NBA is Hardaway's employer and he publicly represents the NBA when he appears on the air whether it is in his capacity as a broadcast commentator or as a guest on a sports talk show. If he makes statements publicly that are embarrassing to his employer, then it is certainly within their prerogative to discipline him for those comments. If the government were to throw him in jail for those comments, then THAT would be a First Amendment issue. But when his employer simply exercises its right to protect its image (whether or not you agree that it needs to do so) it is rather silly to say that his free speech is being denied or that the First Amendment is under attack.

[VRWCmember]

I agree with you, however, why does a person expressing their own opinion, as a person, mean you have to pay a price?

When he appears on a sports talk show, he isn't just expressing his own opinion as a person. He is representing the NBA whether he likes it or not.

What effects this idea that there has to be any punishment at all? Who decides this and why?

The NBA decides when it deems its image to have been damaged by the guy's comments.

[kb2614]

Where do you think it is on the Rocker Scale?

You might have to make a new scale for this one. I think the preening outrage will last longer for one thing, as each media outlet tries to out do the other in the smugness department. I wish I could put money on anytime one of these blow dried morons says the word "dialogue". I'd be a multi millionare.

[whatisthetruth]

Liberalism is a 'mental disorder'. That's why this is a big deal to them. As if forcing everyone to tiptoe around the issue of homosexuality is going to change a person's actual attitude about it.

The only way to 'make' people accept homosexuality in their hearts is to brainwash the culture starting with the youth to convince them in some way that it is good and natural. And of course exterminate those with opposing opinions. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

[streetpreacher]

If Hardaway's spiel had been against Christians, it would have been ignored applauded.

[dforest]

I understand why the NBA feels the need to show a form of punishment. I still do not think that makes it right. Pressure from the MSM PC creates the problem. Why is it okay for the gay player to come out and say he was gay during his NBA career? That might offend people, but that is okay to do. I am talking about the pressure on companies and groups etc, by a liberal society to have to conform to PC standards and punish those people who don't fit the mold. The pressure from a lib media dictates this outcome.